Today’s contributor is Dr Frances Clemson, Christian Aid’s Faith Communications and Just Scripture Specialist.
www.christianaid.org
Something to read
My times are in your hand…
– Psalm 31:15.
Something to think about
Human beings have a complicated relationship with time. We all know how it feels for time to appear to pass faster or slower depending on what we are doing. As a parent I’ve often been on the receiving end of advice that goes something like this: the days are long, but the years are short. This is a good description of how the day-to-day work of caring for small children can make time seem to drag, as you rock, pat, or shush your way towards a nap that seems it will never come! Yet children grow and change so quickly you can also feel like months or years pass in the blink of an eye.
Whatever changes are going on around you, perhaps you sometimes feel that time is moving too fast or not fast enough. We might seek to ‘kill’ time or ‘waste’ time to get to some future point that we hope will be better than the present moment.
It can be quite a challenge then to think of time as more than a commodity, something we can spend or waste at will. Our time is in God’s hands. Every minute we are held, loved, accompanied through our lives. We are given the gift of time, over and over. What will we do with our time? How will we value our time? What difference does it make to you at this moment to know that your time is in God’s hands?
Something to do
Plan some moments over the next week when you will take time with God. This could be just a few minutes. In these moments think about what it means to know that your time, your day, your month, your year is in God’s hands.
Listening to music can help you take time to be with God.
Something to pray
Holy God, our times are in your hands. Show us how to use our time well. Comfort us when we are facing difficult times; when even getting through the next minute seems impossibly hard. Help us to find time to be with you and to know your presence. Hold us and watch over us through all the days of our lives. Amen.